DC Metro Area Real Estate Market: A Quick Update

• August 18th 2009

by Will Smith

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Donna Evers, president of Evers & Co. Real Estate, pens a brief monthly report on the state of the housing market in the Washington, DC area. Below is the latest installment for July.

July was the second month in a row to show an increase in dollar volume of sales; June was 4% higher than last year, while July was 8% higher. This is certainly starting to look like a trend. As for inventory, the area has a mere 4.9 month’s supply so far this year compared to 7.2 month’s supply for 2008.

The third trend that bears noting is price. The average price for all of last year only went down 4%, but the average price for this year so far has declined 14%. This part of the puzzle may not seem to fit, but prices only come down well after there is reduction in sales volume. Of the three areas in our study, Fairfax County, which has had the greatest price reductions in recent years, is now showing the lowest month’s supply and less decline in prices than the other areas. The District shows the sharpest price reductions and has the highest inventory, and Montgomery County is in the middle.

If the economy continues to improve, we should see all three areas picking up in sales. Fairfax County may be the first to show a gain in prices from the previous year, and it looks like the District of Columbia and Montgomery County may still have to go through further price reductions. All the areas continue to show an oversupply of product in upper brackets properties, with the cheapest homes and condos selling the fastest.

* Statistics are taken from the Metropolitan Regional Information System for three areas: Washington, D.C.; Montgomery Country, Maryland; and Fairfax County, Arlington, Alexandria and Falls Church.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/dc_metro_area_real_estate_market_a_quick_update/1247.